Rainbow Skies, the next entry in the Rainbow series of SRPGs, will be releasing next year for the PS4, PS3, and PS Vita. It will support Cross Save when it launches.

“Thanks to the tremendous support and feedback from our fans, we are thrilled to bring our Rainbow RPG series to the PS4,” said Marcus Pukropski, CEO of SideQuest Studios. “Rainbow Skies is our biggest and most ambitious project including a complex background story with multiple, interwoven narratives and many additional features and improvements such as monster taming, player upgrades, skill books and combo systems.”

Rainbow Skies isn’t the only Rainbow entry coming to PS4 either- the previous bestseller in the franchise, Rainbow Moon, which is currently already available on PS3 and PS Vita, will also be made available on PS4 some time next year. As with Rainbow Skies, it, too, will support Cross Save.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage.

Of course, mechanically, Rainbow Moon actually stands as one of the best entry points to the genre currently available on the market- it’s pretty deep, with a plethora of mechanics, and yet at the same time, it makes a lot of concessions to what it assumes are newcomers to the genre. However, it’s gameplay over a course of over 20 hours is unabashedly and unchangingly that of an SRPG with little to no variation, and after a while, the only way you can see it through to the end is if the mechanics really appeal to you- which they will, but only if you’re a big fan of the genre.

"Unlike other SRPGs, which usually have pretty interesting stories charged with intrigue and laced with politics, Rainbow Moon does not have much of a story to tell."

Of course, it probably won’t seem like that to begin with- to begin with, the game seems to play like a classic SNES era RPG, asking you to explore dungeons with an overhead perspective. But as soon as you are engaged in combat, you’re whisked away not to the classic turn based 16 bit RPG battle screen, but to a grid based map, and all of a sudden, it becomes clear what this game is trying to do- much like Atlus’ celebrated Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor, it is attempting to blend the more hardcore SRPG gameplay style with the classic 16 bit RPG style.

It works, and it is actually enough to hold the newcomer’s attention for a bit at the beginning- but then, as you realize that the two halves in this union are not equal, that the dungeon exploration is essentially a glorified menu selection to get from one battle to the next, and that the real meat of the game is in the SRPG battles, you lose interest in the JRPG half, and play only for the SRPG half.

Unlike other SRPGs, which usually have pretty interesting stories charged with intrigue and laced with politics, Rainbow Moon does not have much of a story to tell. Essentially, you are transported into a new world at the beginning of the game by an evil sorcerer, who is also responsible for unleashing a plague of monsters upon this new world. Now not only must you clean up the mess that has been created, you must also hunt him down to find a way back home. It’s a simple story, and it really doesn’t do much to engage the player’s attention. It falters in terms of actual narrative and pacing, and characterization is reduced exclusively to almost throwaway fetch quests.

"The only penalty for death is loss of HP (duh) and mana- after that, you just seek out the nearest healer (and they're almost always pretty close by), and use admittedly hard to get Rainbow Coins to 'revive' yourself."

Thankfully, where the story seems to be lacking, the gameplay more than makes up for it. Rainbow Moon is actually one of the less complex SRPGs around, but you wouldn’t know it at a glance. It’s full to the brim with all sorts of mechanics and concepts: as with any SRPG, you battle on a grid based map, and where and how your character is positioned and stationed comes into play. You need to keep track of your characters’ movement range, the weapons they’re equipped with, their passive skills, the positioning of enemy units, their weapons, their skills.

Unlike most other recent SRPGs (like, say, Fire Emblem Awakening on the Nintendo 3DS), however, Rainbow Moon tries to simplify it a little for the player too. Thus, a concept like permadeath- a long time staple of the genre, and one of the reasons it never really did catch on with the public- is altogether removed. The only penalty for death is loss of HP (duh) and mana- after that, you just seek out the nearest healer (and they’re almost always pretty close by), and use admittedly hard to get Rainbow Coins to ‘revive’ yourself.

Almost as if to compensate for the loss of strategy that the removal of permadeath results in, though, the game does introduce an all new mechanic with its own risk/reward system- killing enemies results in them dropping loot, which you must go collect. Loot is important, because you can use it to upgrade all your gear, which makes you more effective in battle. At the same time however, loot is an additional consideration that is thrown into the mix, as you must weigh moving a character to collect the loot versus using said character for something else- for attacking, or for providing support to some other unit on the map, for example.

"It's a game that's in a very weird place- it's fundamentally sound at its core, and it's addictive as it should be when it works. But perhaps in an attempt to appeal to the newcomer, it strips away so much that often, it's hard to find a reason to play the game in the first place."

At the same time, however, Rainbow Moon is a forgiving game. It has the mechanical depth and complexity, but it also doesn’t want to scare the player off, and so it tries to work with the player through its thirty hour play time. The upside to this is that you won’t ever get too stuck in a specific portion of the game, because the RNG was too unfair.

The downside, on the other hand, is that although it’s deep enough, the distinct lack of any other motivation to play the game- the lack of a story, the lack of gameplay variation- coupled with this, the lack of any challenging difficulty, means that the game is often reduced to a boring, monotonous grind that you have to force yourself to play through.

It’s a game that’s in a very weird place- it’s fundamentally sound at its core, and it’s addictive as it should be when it works. But perhaps in an attempt to appeal to the newcomer, it strips away so much that often, it’s hard to find a reason to play the game in the first place. If, however, should you find yourself gritting your teeth and getting into it, you will find a mechanically accomplished SRPG that provides hours and hours of fun. And at only $15, a game that offers possibly the best value for money on the PSN Store.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation Vita.

Rainbow Moon is a very old school RPG that was released on PSN recently, and we even reviewed the game giving it a glowing score. You can read the review here.

Well guess what? The game is now confirmed to be released on the Vita. The thing is such a game would be a perfect fit for the Vita, so this is the reason why I’m so excited.

“We’ve been thinking about bringing Rainbow Moon to other platforms for quite a while, and the PlayStation Vita has been high up on our list as one of our favorite platforms,” EastAsiaSoft’s Nils Ngai told IGN.

“The PSP has been the number one platform for JRPGs in recent years and Sony built up a very strong fanbase. The PS Vita has a lot of potential and with the right games, we are confident that its userbase will grow strongly during the coming years. Hopefully we can contribute a little part to it with our upcoming PS Vita port [of Rainbow Moon].

“The final decision to bring Rainbow Moon to PS Vita was made because of the game’s success on the PlayStation 3 and really strong user feedback. During the last couple of months we have received hundreds of requests, which ultimately influenced our decision.”

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

This contest is now closed. Winners will be contacted via email.

It’s time for another fantastic contest at GamingBolt, and we have some brilliant games for you to win, provided you meet some conditions of course. Oh, don’t worry, these are simple things.

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Rainbow Moon is a terrific RPG for PSN, which gives the gamer old-school turn based gameplay and features a solid story as well. You can read our review here. Trine 2 is one of the most good looking games ever made, and you can read the review of that over here!

Torchlight 2 review is under progress at GamingBolt, and you can be sure of the fact that this is going to one of the best action RPGs ever made.

There are 2 codes of Rainbow Moon to be won, 4 codes of Rainbow Moon soundtrack; one code for Torchlight 2, and two codes for Trine 2.

So what are you waiting for? Want to win these games? Comment away!

Rainbow Moon is a turn based RPG which was released exclusively for the Playstation Network. It’s a pretty good game too as our review here suggests.

“It’s quite a lengthy game, and a charming one too. The need to grind for experience reduces the overall enjoyment because it isn’t satisfying, but if you are a veteran RPG player, chances are, you would love it,” the review reads.

The demo will be available this week, developer eastasiasoft has revealed. The soundtrack titled Rainbow Melodies will be released on PSN as well for $4.99. “The digital album contains all 32 background music tracks from the game. All tracks are 100% free from digital rights management and have been adapted and remastered especially for this soundtrack release,” the press release reads.

There’s also a premium bundle announced for $18.99, which contains Rainbow Moon, Rainbow Moon Melodies and the Rainbow Moon Starter Pack (Medium) add-on.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

***Please note this walkthrough was not uploaded by GamingBolt.com.

Special thanks to Youtube user riseofasoljatv for uploading this walkthrough.

Check out more video game walkthroughs here.

Without further ado, let’s begin!

The game has been in development for a long time, but I guess that’s one of the reasons why it appears to be so polished, compared to other arcade games in its class. It makes a good first impression, and that’s something that really convinces you to spend more time on it and see what the developers have crafted.

I love the visual style, which is a bit cartoony yet so charming to look at. This is not a graphical powerhouse by any means and it kind of feels like something that’s best suited for a portable. A Vita version of the game would have been something incredible, and a surefire way to pass time considering there’s so much content on offer here.

This is an arcade game after all which is exclusive to PSN, and for a price which is quite incredible when compared to the content it offers. Any RPG fan would have their hands full with this game.

While the game follows basic RPG conventions and gameplay mechanics, one thing that’s a let down is the story. It’s pretty barebones where its your typical hero vs villain scenario with a lack of twists and turns. The game puts you in the shoes of Baldren who hunts his foe called Namoris, and the latter teleports into a world called Rainbow Moon.

I have to say, the art design really stood out amongst other things, although, it kind of felt like you were transported into a cartoony Diablo 2 world.

As soon as you reach the new world, you will soon encounter enemies which you can avoid and reach the first village, but in case you choose to fight, you can scrape through and also get introduced to the combat system.

The combat system is quite simple where the enemy and you both get a turn to get close to each other, but bear in mind, ranged attacks will work even if you aren’t close to your enemy. It’s a bit tough early on in the game, so like almost all RPGs out there grinding helps immensely.

However, in Rainbow Moon, the need to grind to present a proper challenge sometimes takes you out of the overall gameplay experience. The UI and HUD are very well designed and actually helps in making the game accessible to plenty of people out there. In short, you won’t feel lost or need to invest a significant amount of time to just learn the gameplay mechanics.

I shudder at the fact that the game is slightly challenging on normal difficulty so how difficult will it actually be on hard?  Rainbow Coins are the currency of the game which you can spend at vendors to buy items and abilities to use in skill slots. Everything else is like a normal RPG where killing enemies nets you experience which you can use to level up. There are also sub-turns that enables you to do more actions whenever you move.

It’s quite a lengthy game, and a charming one too. The need to grind for experience reduces the overall enjoyment because it isn’t satisfying, but if you are a veteran RPG player, chances are, you would love it.

This game was reviewed on the PS3.

Six playable main characters with upgradeable weapons, armor and accessories; about 120 special skills and more than 20 challenging dungeons are awaiting you in a fascinating story that lasts over 40 hours.

Rainbow Moon is now available on the PSN, exclusively for PlayStation 3.

“We have taken an innovative approach by combining classical elements with new ideas,” said Marcus Pukropski, CEO of SideQuest Studios.

“In Rainbow Moon you will find foes roaming the surface of the planet and have a chance to battle in additional random encounters. The latter, however, are 100% optional and can be disregarded if you so decide.”

You can read more about the game over here. Tell us what you think in the comments section below.